Christmas with the Solorians
by Bingo the Cat
Summary: Well, there was one thing that was going to be so different from Christmas at home – it was exactly that. It wasn't at home. The twins, Shane and Lucy are upset that they didn't get home before Christmas – but can Bingo and the Solorian Crew cheer the four up?


**A/N:** So, here's a Christmas Sonic fic for you all! I was going to write A Very Merry Christmas for today, but I got side-tracked into Sonic – so, my Downton fic will come on the 28 of December instead. But, without further ado… here is Christmas with the Solorians! (And this time, I don't have to worry about the story being reported – there are MAJOR mentions of Sonic, Shadow, Amy, Tails, Cream, Silver and Blaze in this! *grumbles irritably*) Oh, and the whole thing with Sonic's spirit is meant to slightly refer to the story of Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future.

**DISCLAIMER:** I have not owned, do not own, and will never own Sonic the Hedgehog or SEGA Corp. If I did, Silver and Blaze would be a couple, Silver would have his own game, and I would hold a competition for people to submit their Sonic O/Cs for future games. So, naturally, I don't own it.

* * *

**Christmas with the Solorians**

"Zane, you've combed your hair three times already, changed clothes more times than I care to count, and re-wrapped Cassy's present at least twice, with different paper, as well."

To say that his little friend was nervous was the understatement of the century. Zane was _very_ nervous. The fox swallowed, his nerves staying with him the entire time. "Virgil, I want this to be perfect for her. It's her first Christmas away from home – naturally she'll be a little upset."

Virgil softened immensely. "D'you want me to come with you, lil' buddy?"

Zane only nodded. Then he looked at Virgil. "But don't do that weird thing Chester does – he, like, breathes down your neck." Zane shuddered, and Virgil laughed.

"Yeah, that is a little creepy."

The thirteen year old cat hopped off of Zane's top bunk with ease, and opened the door for his brother. Zane smiled at him, and Virgil patted his back in reassurance. And, with thoughts of a merry group of four in their minds, they set off down the corridor…

…Only to find Ember getting the door to Cara's room slammed in his face. The elder cat blinked in shock, the grip on the wrapped present in his hand slackening rapidly. Zane's ears lowered to his head in sadness, and he looked to the floor with tears in his eyes.

The now-familiar _clunk_ of Bingo's cane on the metal grating of the sub, and the _click-clack_ of his wife's heels, came from around the corner. They appeared, dressed up festively – Bingo with a red-and-white Christmas hat on his head, Aurora with little bells on her earrings and a scarf decorated with snowmen (a gift Bingo had bestowed on her rather lovingly, as well) – and shook their heads. Virgil's shoulders slumped. "They won't see any of us?"

"'Fraid not, son." Bingo held the rejected present for Shane and Lucy out to his son, and the younger cat took it, stroking a finger along the carefully wrapped gift. Obviously this was his recently revived mother's work; his father had told him many times that he was hopeless at wrapping presents.

"So… what do we do?" Zane asked from his position that was nestled into Ember's side; the rock-star had pulled him close when he saw that the fox was about to cry. The other three cats looked at each other, uncertain as to how to proceed. Then, a quiet voice spoke up from behind Bingo.

"We fire up the generator. Tonight."

Chester and Atlantis stood there, arms folded as if they were waiting for an argument from everyone else. Bingo raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And once we've fired it up, what are we supposed to do? Hop back and forth between dimensions, looking for theirs until we die from lack of oxygen?"

Aurora groaned as her husband became the pessimistic being he always had been. Virgil wrapped an arm around Zane's shoulders, as did Ember. Chester shook his head, and held up a vial with a sample of Shane's blood in it. He had cut himself on the weapons cupboard, and he had used a random vial to collect it in a spur-of-the-moment decision. "You never know… it might just be this that gets us home," he'd told Chester, although the springer spaniel had almost blanched at the sight of blood.

"We use this so that I can go and get a letter from all of their parents; Shadow will recognise me from our G.U.N missions when we were younger."

"Correction," Atlantis cut in; Chester rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "When _you_ were younger – remember, Shadow's ageless."

* * *

Shadow the Hedgehog was awoken from his sleep (though he didn't really need it) when a bright white flash permeated his house. He groggily rubbed his eyes, and swung his long legs over the side of his bed, slipping his slippers and dressing gown on, before heading on into his living room and getting the shock of his life.

"Chester?!"

_I must be hallucinating… It's the continued disappearance of the children, I'm losing energy just trying to look for the five of them…_

The springer spaniel smiled at his hedgehog friend, who seemed too shocked for words. He chuckled as Shadow rubbed his eyes, mouth agape. Then a broad smile broke out over the knight's face. "Chester!"

The two embraced in a brotherly fashion, and Shadow remembered the exact feeling of Chester's robotic arm against his back spikes from the last time they had hugged… back when King Silver was just a boy in his care until he was eighteen… just before the spaniel had gone missing and everyone had presumed him dead… The two separated, and Shadow ran his eyes up and down the ex-agent's body. "You've changed a lot from the six year old I used to know!"

"And you haven't changed a jot, I see… except for the knight's armour," Chester noted, and Shadow chuckled. Then he sobered.

"But why are you here? _How_ are you here? I thought you were dead! And what with the children missing, too…"

"Well…" Chester clasped his hands together behind his back uncertainly. "That's actually the reason why I'm here." Shadow waited for a further explanation, but Chester simply said, "Can we go up to the castle, see the children's parents? I'll explain it all when we get up there…"

Shadow just nodded, and pulled a thicker coat on over his dressing gown – he may not get cold, but he wanted to seem at least a little real to everyone else.

* * *

"Who is he, Shadow? And what the hell could he possibly know about our children?!"

"Your majesty, if I may… Chester is an old friend of mine – we used to work together in G.U.N… Amy should know…" The pink hedgehog nodded at her late husband's friend. The spirit of Sonic leant against the wall, nodding whenever Shadow paused, affirming everything he said. "…and… he says he may have news on your children's whereabouts."

Silver's whole demeanour changed. His eyes widened – he was doing his wife's job for her, he hadn't wanted to risk waking her at this ungodly hour just to find out that the news there might be about their children – their babies – was wrong.

But her voice came from the top of the staircase, and Tails the Fox winced.

"Where are they?"

The young mother came down the stairs, slowly; her eyes were bloodshot – it was obvious that she had cried herself to sleep in Silver's arms. Her lilac gown was wrapped around her, but it billowed out, clearly showing how much weight she had lost over the last few months, worrying for her children. She reached the bottom of the staircase, and swayed alarmingly; Amy and her mother, Queen Rowan, grasped her upper arms gently as they directed her to Silver's side.

"Why didn't you wake me?" she whispered to her husband; Silver's eyes, so filled with hope just a moment ago, had lost their sparkle, and he wrapped his arms around her delicate waist.

"I didn't want to risk waking you at this hour; 'tis ungodly, after all," he whispered back, into her ear; no one missed the look of endearment that passed over Blaze's face. The couple turned to face Chester once more, and Blaze reached forwards, wrapping her hand around his robotic arm; he seemed to wince, then remembered who he was in the presence of. Shadow and Sonic's spirit looked highly amused.

"Please, tell us everything you know," Blaze pressed on to Chester, who smiled nervously at the young King and Queen, before indicating that everyone sit down. Silver lead them all through to the small library – and despite it being labelled as such, Chester's jaw dropped at the sight of it. It was _magnificent_…

_You have to tell them, Chester… Tell them everything you know…_ He heard Ember's voice in his head, and then Bingo's followed soon after.

_Tell Queen Rowan and King Ninan that you know Bingo and Ember… the others don't need to know the whole story of us, but our Mother and Father deserve to know that their boys are doing okay, are safe…_

Everyone was sat on either the sofas or in the armchairs that were littered around the room. Chester sat down on the sofa opposite the older King and Queen, and looked them in the eyes. "Before I begin, I must tell you – that is, King Ninan and Queen Rowan – that there are two young men in my team, who wish for you to know of their wellbeing. Their names are Bingo and Ember, and they wanted you to know that they're okay and safe." Rowan's hands clapped to her mouth, her eyes wide in shock, whilst her husband leant back into the sofa, blinking rapidly. Blaze looked uncertainly between the trio.

"Mama? Papa? What's going on? Who is he talking about?"

Rowan's hands slowly lowered from her mouth. She was smiling as she turned to her daughter. "Blaze, darling, I hope you can forgive us for not telling you sooner, but… those two men – Bingo and Ember, as Chester said they were called – are… are your brothers."

Blaze's face completely drained of blood. Ninan grasped her hand in his larger, more comforting one. "Sweetheart, I know it's hard, but Bingo was kidnapped when you were a baby, and Ember – your twin brother – went missing not soon after you and he both turned six. We were so distraught – we'd lost all of our children in a matter of seven years."

"Blimey, I hope you're not going to tell me I have any missing siblings, mother, father!" Silver joked to his parents, who both laughed, but shook their heads.

"No, son, you were our only child."

"I don't suppose you know anything about me?" Tails asked quietly; he had always felt as though a part of him was missing, despite being with Cream for nearly his entire life. Chester thought for a moment.

"I suppose… I mean, there is young Zane, he might be related to you… but then, he has been with us for eight years, ever since he was two…"

Cream cleared her throat, looking at Chester meaningfully. "What about our children?" Everyone was suddenly pulled back to Earth when she said that. Chester looked down at his hands, and looked back up, at the four parents. "Well, it all started about month ago, when Bingo was doing the rounds on the sub…"

* * *

Bingo was keeping watch on the generator, for any sign of Chester returning.

Well… he was _supposed_ to be watching out for his colleague and friend. But he was so tired he had completely crashed out in his chair. His head lolled back, his mouth was open and light snores surrounded the room.

Suddenly, the generator whirred up, and the eldest mobian on the sub jerked awake, grabbing his kunai from the floor… only to relax as Chester appeared, smiling and holding several envelopes in his real hand, so as not to tear them with the robotic claws on his other hand. He placed them on the worktop nearby, by the Christmas presents. Bingo smiled back, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Now for Phase Two."

"Mm… but before that, I need to sleep…" The leader gave another huge yawn, and Chester laughed as his boss limped from the room, muttering to himself that Aurora, Virgil or Zane shouldn't keep him up that night.

* * *

"Did he manage to do it, dear?" Aurora was sat at her vanity, brushing her long, blonde hair back from her face. She turned to her husband as he collapsed backwards, onto their bed. He sighed.

"Yep. And I am absolutely knackered." He sat up, and smiled at her. "Whereas you still manage to look beautiful every day."

Aurora smiled, but it was small. "Do I, Bingo? Do you still think I'm beautiful?"

Bingo couldn't believe what he was hearing. He laughed. "Aurora, darling, if you were one of my Christmas presents, you'd outshine the rest of those girls out there. I don't need anyone else – you're everything I could and will ever need."

This time a true smile lit up Aurora's face, and she giggled as Bingo smirked and patted his good leg. "Now come here…"

She stood up, and Bingo had to make himself breathe as she walked over to him, doing that thing where her hips would sway from side to side as she walked… He raised his eyes to hers, and she saw that his already-dark orange irises had darkened further in carnal desire. She sat on his lap, and he snuggled her close, burying his face into her hair and sighing as her scent – lilac and that wonderful smell of treacle toffee – surrounded him. She pushed him back onto the bed, and smirked as she rolled off of him and ducked under the covers.

"Ugh…" He whined, climbing in after her, already wearing his pyjamas, and Aurora chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, pulling her against him. He started to kiss the back of her neck, when–

"Bingo?"

"Yes, Aurora?"

"Go to sleep."

* * *

The next morning, back in the other dimension, saw Shadow walking around the gardens of the palace with Silver, Blaze, Tails and Cream. Rowan and Ninan were trailing behind them, talking excitedly about finding out what their sons had been doing ever since they'd gone missing, presumed dead. Starlet and Stefan had opted to stay behind, keep watch over the castle of Emeria.

"So my two brothers are looking after our children, my eldest brother is completely dependent on a cane for the rest of his life, my twin brother is a rock-star and very famous across the world in the Sol Dimension… oh, and Silver and I also have a sister-in-law and a nephew who we never knew existed until last night, and said sister-in-law was dead until my twin brother learnt necromancy and brought her back from the dead." Blaze nodded to herself. "To cut a long story short, my family is _very_ complicated." Everyone laughed, more freely than they had dared to laugh as of late; but now that they knew their children were in the safe care of Cassy, Cara and Caden's uncles, aunt and cousin, they could smile and laugh as much as they wanted to.

* * *

A light knock came on her door, and Cassy pulled her pillow over her head. "Go away…"

"Cassy?" It was Aurora. "I've brought you breakfast… but if you don't want it right now, then there's more in the kitchen when you feel like coming out." Her footsteps started to retreat; but Cassy heard her stomach rumble, and – not particularly caring about what she looked like at that present moment – she climbed out of bed, opened the door, and called out to Virgil's mother, who had started walking down the corridor.

"Wait."

Aurora turned back around, and smiled as she saw that Cassy had decided she wanted breakfast after all. She walked back over to her, and handed her the tray.

The young girl did look worse for wear, but that was to be expected. She was unhappy that they had been unable to get home before Christmas. She, her family and her friends weren't spending the festive holiday with their parents. It was natural to be upset on one's first Christmas from home. She knew the feeling. She wondered…

"Cassy… if it's any consolation, I know what you're going through."

Cassy just looked at her, waiting for her to continue. Aurora smiled at her. "When the first Christmas without my father, and instead with my newly-wedded husband, came around… I hate to admit it, but I did completely freak out."

"What about your mother?" Cassy was curious.

Aurora winced. "My mother… my mother left my father soon after I was born, saying that he could have me, keep me until he was ready to give me up to my future husband."

Cassy's eyes widened. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry…" she gasped; but Aurora shook her head.

"Don't be. I'm certainly not sorry. I don't miss her at all. But… I do miss my father. He died, a couple of years ago, apparently, according to Bingo and Virgil. Luckily, Bingo was there when he died, so he wasn't… he wasn't alone."

Cassy nodded, and smiled at the elder cat, before Aurora left her standing there with the tray of warm food. The younger cat looked down, and licked her lips at the sight of the huge fry-up. _Wow. She went to all this trouble for me?_

Almost as if she could read Cassy's mind, Aurora called back down the corridor, "You'll have to thank Bingo for the food. I never concentrated in cooking lessons; he's the chef around here."

Cassy's jaw dropped.

* * *

"Zane…"

"What, Virgil?!" the fox snapped at his older brother-figure. Virgil just coolly raised an eyebrow at Zane's hot-headedness.

"…don't you think you're being a bit too OCD?"

Zane exhaled vehemently. "Virgil, we've been over this several times now! It has to–"

"–be perfect, yeah, I know," the cat groaned. "What, cause you have a crush on her or somethin'?"

Zane's muzzle flushed bright red. Virgil's eyes widened dramatically. "Oh my God…"

"Virgil, Virgil, I don't have a crush on Cassy! She's just a friend, is all! I swear!"

"Oh my God, you so do have a crush on her! Oh, my little bro's becoming a man!"

* * *

Bingo was humming a Christmas tune underneath his breath when Shane and Lucy trudged into the room, the latter dragging her chao plush toy behind her. The two were obviously down in the dumps. Bingo looked up, and smiled at the two children. They made an attempt to smile back, but it was no use. Their lips just wouldn't obey their commands. Bingo was empathetic with them; his first two Christmas here had been painful, and so had Aurora's, just after he and she had married – he remembered her completely flipping out… and then the second year (though neither of them had known it at the time) had been because of her pregnancy hormones…

Bingo was shaken out of his thoughts when Lucy asked quietly, "What awe wou making, Mr. Bino?" The cat smiled at the three year olds' undeveloped speech, and Shane rolled his eyes in exasperation. Bingo leant on the counter with his elbows, towards them; they too leant in.

"As long as you don't tell Aurora that I had my elbows on the worktop, I'll _show_ you what I'm making…" The two siblings nodded eagerly, leaning further forwards. Bingo looked around, and then knelt down, to pull out the plate of cooled cookies he had made especially for the kids – that was to say, for Cassy, Cara, Shane and Lucy. Caden was too young to understand, and Aurora enjoyed having a baby to fuss over; Virgil insisted that he was old enough to take care of himself now.

"_But not old enough to brush your teeth on your own, I see,"_ she had added to his statement when she had seen how many fillings he'd had done since she had been gone – Bingo refused to use the word _dead_ when referring to his wife. Virgil had groaned as she had dragged him away, to the nearest bathroom, to give his teeth a good scrubbing over. Everyone else had been in hysterics by this point…

The two children almost started drooling at the scent of the cookies; they were divine! Just like melted chocolate and roasted chestnuts…

_What they don't know can't hurt them…_

When he'd been making the cookie batter (just as he, Ember and Atlantis had planned), he'd tipped in a vial of a special potion that would cheer anyone up if they took it; it was what gave the cookies that heavenly smell, the smell of chocolate – _melting_ chocolate – and chestnuts that were roasting over a fire. He offered the plate to them, and they took one each for themselves, then looked back at him for conformation of what they were about to do. He grinned, and nodded; Shane and Lucy took another one each, so that there was one for each member of the four. As they left the kitchen, Shane called back over his shoulder, "Thanks, Mr. Bingo!"

Bingo smiled as Atlantis entered the room, carrying a cleaned and fed Caden in his arms; Bingo raised his eyebrows, and Atlantis flushed bright red. "I insisted that your wife had a day off…" he muttered, more to himself than to Bingo. Bingo shook his head in amusement at the embarrassed golden retriever.

* * *

Cassy didn't think she'd ever looked forward to Christmas away from home so much – but maybe that was only because Ember had forced Bingo into singing a couple of Christmas songs before the clock struck twelve and Santa made his rounds. She and Cara giggled as Bingo sat on the stool, looking _very_ disgruntled. He sent a glare over to Ember, who was naturally tuning his guitar, readying it for his own solo performances. Aurora stood to the side, her hands clasped in front of her and a soft, sweet smile on her face. That was all the encouragement he needed. Clearing his throat, he began to play his acoustic guitar; then, in the tenor of his voice, he sang:

"**I'm driving home for Christmas**

**Oh, I can't wait to see those faces**

**I'm driving home for Christmas, yeah**

**Well, I'm moving down the line**

**And it's been so long**

**But I will be there**

**I sing this song**

**To pass the time away**

**Driving in my car…**

**I'm driving home for Christmas…**"

As he continued to sing his first song, everyone beamed and waved their arms over their heads, some of the lads starting to sing along. Bingo seemed to be enjoying himself more, now that he was more in his element. He finished off the song with a gentle strum of the strings, and everyone cheered him on as he went straight into the next song. It was a complete classic that everyone knew and could sing along to.

"**You'd better watch out!**

**You'd better not cry!**

**You'd better not pout!**

**I'm telling you why!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**He's making a list! Huh!**

**He's checking it twice!**

**He's gonna find out**

**Who's naughty or nice!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**He sees you when you're sleeping!**

**He knows when you're awake!**

**He knows when you've been bad or good**

**So be good for goodness sake!**

**You'd better watch out!**

**You'd better not cry!**

**You'd better not pout!**

**I'm telling you why!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**Oh!**

**You'd better watch out!**

**You'd better not cry!**

**You'd better not pout! Uh!**

**I'm telling you why!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**He's making a list!**

**And checking it twice!**

**He's gonna find out**

**Who's naughty or nice!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**He sees you when you're sleeping!**

**He knows when you're awake!**

**He knows when you've been bad or good**

**So be good for goodness sake!**

**You'd better watch out!**

**You'd better not cry!**

**You'd better not pout!**

**I'm telling you why!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**"

Suddenly, Bingo added a bit that Cassy, Cara, Shane and Lucy had never heard before; and as the leader on the sub sang it, he looked straight over at Aurora, who seemed to melt on the inside as her husband sang on.

"**So it's that time of the year…**

**Where you all your problems go…**

**And you know, you just–**

**Shake it, shake it, baby!**

**Shake it, shake it, baby!**

**Ooh, do-do-do-do-do-do**

**Do-do-do-do-do-do!**

**Shake it, shake it, baby!**

**Shake it, shake it, baby!**

**Do, do-do-do-do-do-do-do**

**Do-do-do-do-do-do – oh, oh!**

**He sees you when you're sleeping!**

**He knows when you're awake!**

**He knows when you've been bad or good**

**So be good for goodness sake!**

**You'd better watch out!**

**You'd better not cry!**

**You'd better not pout!**

**I'm telling you why!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**He's making a list!**

**He's checking it twice!**

**He's gonna find out**

**Who's naughty or nice!**

**Santa Claus is coming…**

**Santa Claus is coming…**

**Santa Claus is coming… to town!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**Ay!**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**

**Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-oh-ooh…**

**Santa Claus is coming to town!**"

He clambered off the stool, and placed the guitar down just a second before Aurora bounded into his arms, pressing her nose to the underside of his chin. Bingo's look softened, and he pulled her closer to him. Everyone knew of the affectionate love the two shared, even if it did get a little out of hand sometimes…

"Alright, alright, lovebirds, outta the way!" Ember pushed past the two, electric guitar and amp in separate hands; everyone instantly cheered at the sight of the rock-star shoving the stool off the stage with his foot; Zane winced when it hit the weapons cupboard, but no one else noticed as the sounds of a finely tuned guitar by a finely tuned musician flowed out of the amp. "You guys ready?"

Cheers met Ember's question, and he laughed.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, Cassy!"

Cassy smiled as Zane handed her the neatly wrapped present, blushing lightly as Cassy accepted it with a quiet "thank you". She gently pulled the paper off of the box – and as she did so, an envelope fell out from beneath the wrapping. Curious, she picked it up; and when she did, she didn't notice Zane's smile, nor did she see it get wider when she saw that the handwriting was hers, Cara and Caden's father's. With trembling fingers, she opened it up…

* * *

Cara looked up at Ember – who was nearly as tall as Bingo, so it was quite a feat – and then back at the gift in his skilled musician's hands. He smiled at her, a stray strand of scarlet fur flopping into his right eye as he pushed it towards her more. She took it from him, too shocked for words. She pulled the wrapping paper off, scrunching it up into a ball soon after, and saw that there was an envelope taped to the box. Her eyes widened as she saw that the handwriting was hers, Cassy and Caden's mother's. She ripped the envelope open, and started to read…

* * *

Shane grinned as Virgil pretended to stumble as the fox grabbed the box off of him, and tore the wrapping off, not caring one jot about it. An envelope fluttered to the floor, and he knelt down to pick it up… and gasped as he saw that the script was his and Lucy's father's. With a nervous expression, he opened the envelope, and read his father's letter…

* * *

"Here you go, Lucy. A present from Aurora and I."

"Fank wou, Bino, fank wou, Awawa," Lucy said cheerfully, and – with Aurora's help as she knelt down beside the young rabbit – she tore the gift wrap off of the box, and saw the envelope stuck to it. She looked to Aurora, up to Bingo, then back to the envelope several times, before shakily pulling the letter from the envelope that was scripted with hers and Shane's mother's handwriting. She tried to read it, before Aurora smiled, took it, and read it aloud to her…

* * *

_My dearest baby girl,_

_The first thing I want you to know is that everyone here misses you – we miss all of you. But we're managing since we've had word from one of Uncle Shadow's old friends' about you. He has been keeping watch on you all this time…_

_The second thing we all want you to know is that the two cats – the brothers – are also the brothers of your mother. Ember is her elder twin, and Bingo is older than the pair of them by thirteen years. So you're in good hands, which is a relief to all of us here at home!_

_It's strange. This is our first Christmas apart from each other, and it hurts, it does, but it's a feeling we've acquainted with the fact that you, your sister and your brother will spend Christmas with your families when you are older. It doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt, though._

_And that's another a subject I want to top. Life is a funny business, Cass, and so is love. Don't go giving your heart to the wrong man. My darling girl, I don't want you to be hurt._

_And on that note, I finish my letter to my first-born and little angel. I love you, Cassandra._

_Your darling father, Silver._

* * *

_My darling,_

_Everyone misses you here. We all miss you. But from the sounds of what Shadow's friend could tell us, you won't have to miss us for very long, for they will be getting that generator of theirs up and running again, and will be able to return you all home to us._

_Your father will have told Cassy this, but I want you to find this out from my own hand. Bingo and Ember – that is to say, the leader and his younger brother – are my brothers, too. I only found that out on Christmas Eve, dearest Cara, and it is extremely humiliating to know that I really am the baby of the family now, being as Ember is older than me by barely a minute. So Uncle Ember and Uncle Bingo (as well as Aunt Aurora and Cousin Virgil) will be able to keep an eye out for you._

_I never thought that our first Christmas apart would come so soon, and that it would hurt so much, Cara, but it does. And I realise now, it hurts so much because you are all still my babies – you, Cassy and Caden. I miss you so much, darling._

_So I finish my letter here. I love you Caralyn, my fiery angel and the Care Bear of us all._

_Your dear mother, Blaze._

* * *

_Shane, my boy,_

_I miss you, son, and so does your mother, and we miss Lue as well. Everyone here misses all of you. It's just good to know that you're all together, and safe. I won't tell you how I know you're in safe hands, but I do, and I know you'll trust me in my judgement._

_We want you home so much, Shane, and we miss you so, so much more. Please come home safe and sound, my son._

_I leave this letter short and concise because I know you've never been a fan of reading. But keep safe, and god speed._

_Your loving father, Tails._

* * *

_Oh, my baby girl,_

_Lucy, I want you home so much. I miss you, darling. I want you to know that everyone misses you here. We all want you home. And let's hope Shane brings home some manners with him!_

_I love you, my baby. Lots of love, hugs and kisses on Christmas Day,_

_Your mummy, Cream._

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! I'd like to know what people think about this! And Merry Christmas (although technically it's now Boxing Day), Cassy and Ember! From your Uncle and Brother respectively,

_Bingo._


End file.
